


Draft #20571

by chocolate_velvet



Category: Attack on Titan, Shingeki no Kyojin
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-01-16 09:35:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1342618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolate_velvet/pseuds/chocolate_velvet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the cottage surrounded by lustful garden, Levi was caring for Erwin, an terminal burnt patient. Unlike Levi, who has no memories of his previous life, Erwin remembered most of it. He was torn between his desire to rekindle his feelings and to protect Levi from the pain of loss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [world of chicken](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=world+of+chicken).



Prelude

A man was staring at the changing sky, another gust of wind, a buckle noise in the air, and the rustling leaves. He felt the cool watery breeze and his countenance changed. Hurriedly, he collected the laundry, stashed them in a big wicker basket before running toward the cottage.

He just reached the door when the rain started. He opened the door and dashed inside. He put the basket on the laundry table and walked passed  the kitchen and the living room, climbed the stair toward the hall, at the end of which is a wedge of light from an open door.

He turned into the room which is another garden – a room of painted vines and flowers painted over its walls and ceiling. As he entered toward the windows, his pace became slower. He had closed them one by one before walked toward the bed, where a man, blackened by fire, lie on his bed.

He lie flat on his back, without pillow, looking up at the foliage painted into the ceiling and the painted blue sky.

As the man sensing the other was standing closed to him, he opened his eyes, blue as the brightest sapphire, and gazed lovingly toward the other man.

“It’s raining, finally.” said the other man.

The sick man smiled and managed to nod.

"It's been hot in these past days. Do you want to feel the water?", he asked.

The sick man nodded and whispered something inaudible.

Gently, the other removed his gown, exposing the charred body of were the color of aubergine.  He wet the wash cloth and began from the destroyed feet. He squeezed the water just above his ankles. He heard the sick man's murmurs and saw him smiled. Above the shins the burns was the worst. Beyond purple. Bone.

He has been nursing the man for months and he knew the body well, the penis sleeping like a seahorse, the hips and thigh, once strong and muscular, now charred and leathery.

He patted gently on the chest where he was less burned. He loved the chest, paled from the burnt but still held the remaining of once big pectoral muscles.  Gently he moved upward toward the neck before dipping the washcloth to the basin.

He looked at the face, burnt beyond recognition, saved only the blue eyes which true purpose was to set contrast to the charred face. He lightly patted the cheeks, forehead, and eye sockets. He blew cool air to his neck.

As he finished, he put on a fresh gown on the man and pull the blanket to the chest. The other rewarded him with a faint smile.  He sighed softly.

“Do you want me to read for you?”, he whispered.

With so much difficulty, the sick man managed a reply, “I want to tell you my story, if you care to listen.”

He blinked as he heard it. “You hardly managed to talk. Now you want to tell me your story?”

The sick man coughed. He managed a guttural sound before he rebuffed.

“I hardly feel any pain. Beside nothing really matter for me since I don’t have many tomorrows.”

The other man dragged a chair and sat beside the bed. He sat cross legged and said, “I hardly know your name.”

"You keep asking. I told you it doesn't matter. I won't live long." he answered sadly. "But you can call me Erwin."

His eyes were locked at the younger man, as a married man looked at his wife. If the younger man moves his head, Erwin's stare would move alongside with him into the wall.

It was late afternoon. His hands played with a piece of sheet, the back of his fingers caressing it.

The wind became warmer. The rain was almost ceased, only drizzle remained. The leaves rustled. The air turned quite and dreamy. Words were flowing like spring water, slowly it made ways into the heart.

Erwin would tell the younger man his story. He listened to the burnt man, swallowing his words like water. But there were times when he couldn't utter a word, either because of his physical condition or he has reached to grave emotional parts. There, he would abruptly stopped. His eyes would look at the entwining foliage and flowers on the ceiling but his gaze was cast far beyond the room.

The younger man would not press him to continue, but merely waited. When silence became deafening, he would offer to read for the brunt man, which the later quickly accepted.

At night, he slept a little, merely lying in silence and closing his eyes. When the weather gets cold, the younger man would lie beside him. He would do it carefully, so that he would not put his weight on the sick man. Sometimes, their fingers brushed. He felt the charred and leathery fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

A loud motorbike broke the day. The noise died just in front of the cottage and followed with loud chattering voices of a woman and a man. The woman voice was louder and more cheerful while the man's voice was more cautious and soft. They parked the bike beneath the tall poplar tree. Together, they entered through the front rose gate. The man made comments on the blooming japonais shrubs.

They en­tered the cot­tage as if it was their prop­er­ty, with such con­fi­dent and fa­mil­iar­i­ty. They called out for the sick man as they walked in the hall way.

“Let them en­ter”, the sick man told.

The younger man put down his book and walked to­ward the door.

As soon as he opened it, a wom­an’s head bobbed in, near­ly hit­ting his. She muf­fled an apol­o­gy and walked to­ward the sick man. The younger man sighed in dis­plea­sure. He looked at them, dis­ap­prov­ing ev­ery­thing about them, even though the man ap­peared more quite.

He was about to mouth a word or two when he sensed that the sick man was call­ing for him. He walked to­ward the bed, stand­ing at the op­po­site of the two strangers. He bent down, his ears light­ly brushed the dry and chalky lips.

“These are my cousins.” said the sick man “They’ll be stay­ing here from now.”

“Al­right.” he replied. A hint of an­noy­ance was au­di­ble from his voice. “Shall I get you some­thing?”, he added with a tone of sar­casm.

As if be­ing un­aware of the sar­casm, the wom­an cheer­ful­ly an­swer, “Iced tea with a slice of lemon please. Don’t for­get the ex­tra ice cubes. We had a long jour­ney and the weath­er was un­friend­ly to­day.”

He shot a dead­ly glare at the wom­an, who didn’t flinch even a bit but rather looked quite amused.

“I’m a nurse! Not a ser­vant! I mere­ly show a sense of hos­pi­tal­i­ty to our guests.” he snapped. With that he strode out of the room, clos­ing the door.

The three of them ex­changed looks. For the first time, the burnt man looked an­i­mat­ed. His eyes shone with ex­cite­ment.

See­ing this, the wom­an and the man beamed.

“I can’t be more sure that it’s him.” said the man.

“Def­i­nite­ly, Mike. That’s Levi.” said the wom­an. “He looks more hand­some than be­fore.” she added.

“Al­though he’s saved from war’s bru­tal­i­ty, he’s still sar­cas­tic but more car­ing, I think.” Mike added as he looked at the sick man.

“Nah Er­win, he doesn’t re­mem­ber any­thing? Not even a bit?” the wom­an asked the sick man.

He sighed deeply and an­swered, “Noth­ing at all. But on the oth­er hand I’m re­lieved. May be it’s bet­ter that he doesn’t re­mem­ber any­thing.” Er­win replied. “I don’t want any of you to tell him.” he added.

Hear­ing this, Mike was about to say some­thing when the door swung open and the young man en­tered, car­ry­ing a tray of cool drinks, care­ful­ly he placed it on a near­by ta­ble.

“I haven’t in­tro­duce you with my cousins.” said Er­win “These are Hange and Mike. I asked my lawyer to in­form them about me.” Er­win said in soft voice.

“And, they are go­ing to stay with us, I know.” the young man cut. He looked still rather an­noyed but Er­win replied with a smile.

The young man's eyes dart­ed from Hange to Mike. He saw how Hange fin­ished half of her drink in one gulp and Mike, al­ready fin­ished his drink, be­gan to chew the ice cubes. Levi sighed.

He was sure their some­thing pe­cu­liar about them which he didn’t like. Both of them talk­ing all the time, yet Er­win didn’t seem to mind. He even man­aged to make a few com­ments that sparked more talks.

But there was one thing that Levi no­ticed, nei­ther Hange nor Mike saw Er­win with piti­ful look or dis­gust. They seemed that they had ac­cept­ed Er­win un­con­di­tion­al­ly. This had soft­ened his heart.

Sud­den­ly he sensed a light fin­ger taps on his hand. Im­me­di­ete­ly he looked at Er­win, ask­ing what his needs. “I want some ice cubes, too.” He mum­bled soft­ly.

The young man put an ice cube in­side his mouth. Care­ful­ly he bent down un­til his his lips light­ly touched Er­win. Then, he opened his lips, let­ting the cool drops to drip in­to Er­win’s mouth. Soft mur­murs came out from Er­win’s lips as he drank by the drips. When he felt enough, Er­win tap his fin­ger, telling to stop and told him, “I’ve got enough.” Levi re­treat­ed to his seat. Hange and Mike were ex­chang­ing looks.

As if there was nothing special had had happened, Levi collected the empty glasses and took the tray. He looked at Hange and Mike and said, "He needs to rest. I'll show you your rooms."


	3. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written for worldofchicken and all of Mikeru fans. 
> 
> In the beginning, I wanted this fic to be exclusively Eruri. But, as other characters began to appear, their personalities have influence the whole story. So, I can only follow their dynamics and other ships appear.  
> Still, I want to keep this to be mostly Eruri.

Interlude

It was 7 in the morning. The weather was temperate and friendly. The wind blew softly;Flower petals danced merrily. The cottage was cool and airly.

Mike opened the window, it was Erwin's order. He took time to watch Levi and Hange picking berries in the garden. Mike smiled as he overheard their conversation. Despite Levi's sarcastic nature, both of them seemed to hang out quite well.

"What's it, Mike?" Erwin asked.

Mike stratled. He turned to Erwin quickly. His heart turned into pieces.

Slowly, he walked toward Erwin. He sat himself on the bed beside Erwin.

"What's with this face?" Erwin asked.

Mike sighed. He looked at Erwin directly his eyes.

"What've happened to you after you departed?" Mike asked back. "You just took off, leaving us behind. Why did you suddenly left us? Why did you never tell us anything?"

Erwin extended his hand, trying to reach Mike. The later bend down, his side on on the bed, and he put his cheek on Erwin's palm. His eyes were closed.

"But, you never resent me, do you Mike?"

"No. Though I don't think you trust me. I don't resent you." Mike replied softly.

"I was searching for him." Erwin answered.

"That what Hange said." Mike replied. "She said that the moment you remembered, you'd search for him." he added.

Erwin chuckled, "She was the one who figured things out."

"There is no more war, Erwin. you don't need to keep secret all the time anymore.", Mike retorted.

"Are you pinning on me, now?"

"No. But, had I had known, I might have save you."

Erwin sighed. His fingers were playing on Mike's shirt.

"You always watch my back." he murmured.

"And, I shall continue doing it, if you let me." Mike replied as he removed his shoes and began laying down next to Erwin. He placed himself carefully so that he wouldn't hurt Erwin but closed enough for Erwin to feel his body heat. He was breathing closed to Erwin's head. Mike seemed unsure whether he could put his hand around Erwin, but he decided not to.

"Mike, I no longer can do anything."

"I don't want you to do anything but talk to me." Mike replied. "I want to know how you've been living all this time and why you never contacted us, saved from the message from your lawyer."

"Hmmm...Inquisitive, as always."Erwin chuckled.

"I'm just interested. You are interesting to me." Mike replied as he blew air on Erwin's cheek, a mock kiss.

Erwin saw Mike's mock kiss and his eyes shone bright. 

"I wish I could feel that." Erwin murmured. 

Mike was about this repeat his action when Erwin pat Mike's hand.

"He's coming." he softly warned.

Mike sighed in disappointment. Quickly, he rose, put on his shoes, and tiptoeing toward the window.

Erwin's eyes were bright in amusing glance.

Levi entered the room.He carried a tray of food, set it on the nearby table.

"I got you some fresh berry puree." he told Erwin.

"I'd love to have it." Erwin replied.

Mike saw how Levi had prepared Erwin before feeding him. He sighed. He turned his gaze and saw a basket of berries.

"Is that for me." Mike asked to distract himself.

"You can have it, if you want." Levi replied. "But please left a half for me."


	4. The Escape

The burning man propelled himself down the steps of the`laboratories as the police car-summoned, he presumed, by the alarm set off upstairs- appeared at the gate and swung up the driveway. As he ran from the door, the car screeched up to the steps. He waited in the shadows, too exhausted by terror to run any further. But they disappeared through the swing doors without so much a glance toward his torment. Am I on fire at all? he wondered. Was this horrifying spectacle -  his flesh baptized with a polished flame that seared but failed to consume - simply a hallucination, for his eyes only. If so, perhaps all that he had suffered up in the laboratory had also been delirium. The heat in his flesh licking him into ecstasies.

He looked down his body. His exposed skin still crawled with livid dots of fire, but one by one they were being extinguished. He was going out, he realized, like a neglected bonfire. The sensations that had suffused him - so intense and so demanding that they had been like pain as pleasure -  were finally deserting his nerve endings, leaving a numbness for which he was grateful. His body, now appearing from beneath the veil of fire, was in a sorry condition. His skin was a panic-map of scratches, his clothes torn to shreds, his hands sticky with coagulating blood. There was no avoiding the bitter truth. He had done all he had imagined doing. 

He crept away from his hiding place beside the door and down the driveway, keeping a lookout for the return of the two policemen;neither appeared. The street beyond the gate was deserted. He started to run. He had managed only a few paces when the alarm in the building behind him was abruptly cut off. For several seconds his ears began to hear the sound of heat - the surreptitious murmuring of embers - distant enough that he didn't panic, yet close as his heartbeat. 

He limped on, to put as much as distance as he could between him and the building; but however fast he ran, the heat went with him, safe in some backwater of his guts threatening with every desperate step he took to ignite him afresh. 

*******

 

Erwin woke up from the nightmare. His breath was heavy and uneven. His eyes darted on the bedside next to him. When he found that no one sleeps beside him, his eyes travelled across the room, searching for Levi. When he did not see Levi, he was sieged by a sudden and irrational fear.

"Levi..." He tried to call out his name. Silence answered him. "Levi!" He managed a louder voice. Just as panic nearly took him over, he saw Levi standing beside him, carrying an oxygen mask on his hand. Carefully, Levi placed the mask on his nose and mouth. 

"I'm here. Calm down and breath."

Erwin felt the surge of oxygen. His hand still searching for Levi's hand. As if understanding him, Levi put his hand on top of Erwins. 

"I will stay here as long as you want me to." Levi assured him.

With those words, Erwin started to doze of and let himself claimed by sleep once again.


End file.
